There’s idiosyncrasy flowing through the work of mui zyu, the experiment pop pursuit of Eva Liu. The Hong Kong, London-based by-way-of-Belfast polymath sounds like no one else, but also lots of people at the same time – sometimes within the same song. Rising from the ritz and rubble of the British avant-garde, last year’s inaugural record Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century was an inward reflection of her identity, and a highly confident and committed debut. Tomorrow (24th May) she returns with her sophomore, nothing or something to die for.

A dichotomy of beauty and oddity, the new album juxtaposes dazzling melodic work and poignant lyrics to glitchy soundscapes and surprising twists; the type of listen that challenges and compels beyond its sonic surface of looped drum machines, choppy synths and traditional Chinese sprinklings. The artist looks outwardly on her follow-up LP, tackling and confronting society in all its joy and anguish, a storyteller of flawed omniscience navigating a way towards enlightenment.

To spotlight the outstanding new record, we caught up with mui zyu, discussing the impact of her culture on her music, her artistic progression, and pushing boundaries with her sound.

Read the full exclusive interview…

Talk us through the artistic inception of mui zyu?
I started making music as mui zyu during the pandemic when I was lucky to have some time to wander through ideas and lay the foundations of the project. I was exploring my Hong Kong heritage as a way to connect with my family who had just moved back whilst also trying to understand myself better. I made this ever-growing cauldron, throwing more thoughts and ideas in (from Chinese folklore and horror to dream diaries, while collecting and archiving voice notes from my family) and after it had simmered for long enough the idea for ‘mui zyu’ and first songs just kind of popped out.

What are the key influences, sonically and beyond?
Although most of the stuff I’ve made has been ‘song-based’, in the process of making I’m usually just as interested in creating some kind of world and strange feelings as I am interested in the actual craft of song-writing. Immersive video-games you can lose yourself in and books/films that haunt you years after you’ve let them into your life have been really influential for me. 

How has your cultural background impacted and shaped your musical and persona character? 
I guess we’re all just vessels of our experience combined with what we can imagine. My upbringing in a Hong Kong family, in Belfast, then suburban England, has definitely had an impact on my music – as has the hundreds of hours of movies that kept me company for years of being home alone while my parents ran our family restaurant. Pursuing something as economically doomed as ‘the arts’ wasn’t encouraged and it took me a long time to have the confidence to finally start writing. The imposter syndrome isn’t all bad though – I’m perfectly happy feeling more myself at home listening to records with my cat, than picturing an imaginary seat at a table of psychopaths in the music world. 

Despite music not being encouraged, my parents do love music. It has been a constant backdrop to many of our family’s most joyful memories – from car rides with my mum listening to Cantopo classics on cassettes that were so warped from overuse, to my dad singing Frank Sinatra at karaoke or playing songs from The Sound of Music on guitar. I have always been aware of how music made them happy.

At home we’d communicate between three spoken languages (English, Cantonese and Mandarin), and our main language – FOOD. Food is an important symbol in all the music I make and a reminder that my parents are more artistic than they realise.

How would you define the sound and style of mui zui?
I would love a listener to want to lean in – it would be even more amazing if they wanted to listen again because an unusual feeling arrived. Although at the forefront of the music there’s the usual suspects – voice, guitars, synthesisers etc – there are also hundreds of hidden sounds, field recordings, voice memos, fragments of the demos lurking quietly in the corners too.

Congratulations on your second album, nothing or something to die for! How are you feeling about the release?
Thank you! These are the best songs I’ve ever written, and I was able to make the record exactly how I wanted to – working with my co-writer and producer – Lucci Rossi and with the sessions players, artists, photographers and filmmakers of my dreams. This was thanks to the support of my amazing record label – Father/Daughter who have been so encouraging and invigorating to collaborate with, as well as the support from the PRS Foundation’s PPL Momentum Funding. We were able to work at a few different studios with a range of cats to say hello to (shoutout to Dust at Middle Farm Studios).

What’s been the creative process of the album?
I am always writing, mostly bad ideas, but they’re a necessary evil along the way to the better ones. We had the opportunity to fully immerse in the writing and recording process at a residential studio – whereas I normally work at home. We set up heaps of fun equipment and would have deep chats about what we could use to help enhance the songs, be it a warbly tape echo to reminisce on those feelings listening to old cassettes with my mum in the car, or sending pitched down vocals through wall of fuzzed out guitar amps to create a horror-cliche of an occult vocal effect we’d then hide in a song to represent the harmful effect of upholding dangerous traditions in society.

How does this sophomore record show progression from last year’s predecessor, Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century?
Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century was really a concept album about a lone warrior (maybe me) seeking out battle mates to slay demons (family expectations, dangerous cultural traditions, and of course racist creeps). This new record looks outward instead to a bigger world – perhaps with ‘Rotten Bun’ inside. It’s less inward, more a series of observations around the absurdity of our existence, the survival nihilism of our time and what happiness really is (footnote – I don’t know). With this in mind, I also wanted to push my writing and my singing and make a more cohesive collection of my best music taking what I’d learned from the first record, pushing my favourite elements and finding new ideas along the way too.

What are the main themes and concepts you touch on throughout the LP?
As a whole, the record is about absurdity and embracing chaos. I’m trying to make sense of this world we’re in and why we are destroying it. I don’t have the answers, just a series of questions and along the way I’m trying to work out what happiness looks like too, and why so many of us (myself included) continuing to get it wrong.

What do you want to achieve with the record? 
I think I’ve achieved my intentions which were to explore these ideas, and create music uninterrupted for a moment. The wonderful friends and artists who got involved along the way are like this amazing jelly icing on top which uplifted the world of the album. If anyone wants to listen to it, or come to a show, that would be a welcome bonus.

How important is it for you to push boundaries in your music?
I think you can hear references, nods and influences in what I’m making. But if I feel something is too derivative it can feel inauthentic, pointless or boring so I guess I do have certain idiosyncratic boundaries I feel compelled to push. Furthermore, imposter syndrome means I can be hyper-critical of myself regarding certain musical things, like my singing (which I still feel like a beginner with) and my guitar-playing when my fingers are in a bad mood. I also try to find the confidence to lean into more uncomfortable ideas in writing and production too.

What’s to come from you this year? 
Once the album is out we are going to play our first run of festivals in the UK and Europe then take the record on tour in October. If I can afford a trip to Hong Kong to visit my family, that is top priority. Then in windows of recover-mode along the way I’m gonna get lost in some new RPGs, have quality time with my cat, and spend time with a little pocket of wonderful humans I love to bits.